Forever Changed
by ExcellentDriver
Summary: My take on what happened off-camera during "The Change in the Game".


**First of all, I still haven't recovered from last night's finale.**

**Are you kidding me?**

**That was all my B&B fanfic dreams coming true! If you read my other stories, you know what I mean.**

**I've always wanted to see B&B with a baby, but never, ever, eeeeeever thought Hart Hanson would go there. Maybe some "5 years later…" scene of them and their daughter in the last episode of the show, but never in the end of this season, especially in the end of a season which started oh-soooo-badly.**

**And of course, even though everyone and their mothers wrote something about this, I wanted to write something too. :)**

**I hope you enjoy it. **

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><p><strong>.<strong>

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Angela's loud screams inside the delivery room were making her even more anxious than she already was._ Was it as bad as it seemed to be?_

Temperance Brennan took a deep breath.

Her gynecologist had called her the moment she arrived at the hospital to tell her she had her blood exam's result. It said '_positive_', just like the pregnancy test she'd taken the night before. She started getting suspicious once her period didn't come that month. It had always been extremely regular. She didn't need much to bring her mind back to the night she spent at Booth's apartment. That night seemed to come back to her mind quite often since it happened. The way she crawled into his bed begging for comfort. The way he held her in his warm embrace and made her feel like nothing in the world would be able to hurt her as long as she was there. The way he wiped her tears away and brushed his lips against hers. The way he touched her as if she was the most precious thing in the world. The way he made her feel _loved_.

Things had changed between them since that night. Of course they did. They made a silent agreement to not talk about it and they didn't made love again after that. They had lunch together, and they had dinner together. They went to a toy store together to get a stuffed bunny to Angela's baby and bickered about which one they should get ("Bunnies aren't blue, Booth"). They went to the movies and sometimes she'd catch him looking at her with desire in his eyes. Sometimes he even ventured to steal a kiss or two when they were alone.

But they never talked about it. They never talked about what had happened and what had changed.

And now she was pregnant.

Dr. Temperance Brennan was never careless. Since she became sexually active, she'd started going on the pill and made sure all of her partners wore a condom during intercourse. And, despite what she said, she hadn't had sex with that many guys in her life or, better yet, she hadn't had sex _at all_ for the past three years. Hence why she wasn't on birth control that night she spent with Booth. The fact that they were actually kissing in his bed and that they finally let their issues go and just enjoy the moment completely fogged their mind and neither of them remembered something as important and necessary as a condom.

_This can't be real._

She wanted a baby. _Scratch that._ She _craved_ for a baby. Sometimes, during the past months, she couldn't help but being incredible jealous of her best friend. Angela just seemed _so_ happy with her husband and baby and Brennan wondered if she'd ever feel like that. If she'd ever have someone to love her like that. And then there was Booth. She loved him. It took her a long time and a lot of mistakes to realize that, but she knew it now. She didn't want any baby. She wanted _his _baby. But he had someone else, and they had broken up just a few months before. Booth had said he loved Hannah. He asked her to _marry _him. That was huge.

Maybe Brennan could have had him once in the past, but she turned him down and he had moved on.

The fact that they slept together and he was acting more sweetly with her didn't mean he wasn't mad anymore. It didn't mean he stopped loving Hannah. It didn't mean he loved _her _now. Brennan knew Booth loved her, she knew she was his best friend, but she also knew it didn't mean he loved her the way she _wanted_ him to love her.

And, sure enough, it didn't mean he wanted her to have his baby.

_This is so soon._

She felt like crying. That baby was everything she ever wanted, but how would _Booth _feel about it?

He had to know. She'd once asked him to donate his sperm so she could have a baby and he refused because he could never have a child and not be a father. He'd never abandon his child. He'd be there for her. She didn't doubt that.

But the fact that he might want to be with her just because of the baby scared her more than anything in the world.

.

.

"I'm…" She gasped. She could do it. He was just saying that having a baby was always a great thing, wasn't he? She could do it. "I'm pregnant."

The shock in his eyes didn't pass unnoticed by her. She felt like a lonely and scared seventeen year old girl again. "You're the father." She added before she could think. Maybe she had to point that out so he could be sure. He didn't know about her lack of a sex life.

The two seconds that passed while he just stared at her in shock hanged in there for like a million years.

_Won't you say anything?_

And then, it happened. Slowly, his face started lightening up and the next thing she knew, he was smiling at her with the brightest smile she'd ever seen.

She remembered how to breathe again.

She mirrored his smile immediately.

He still didn't say anything, he just stood there, grinning like a fool at her and she started feeling anxious again.

"I know this is completely unexpected, and I still can't believe it myself, but-" And then she couldn't finish her sentence, because he had wrapped one arm around her waist to bring her closer to him while the other was snaking up her neck, his lips landing on hers in the sweetest kiss of her life.

"_You are pregnant?_" He finally managed to say, the grin refusing to leave his handsome face while he brushed her cheek tenderly with his thumb.

"Yes." She smiled shyly. "A positive home pregnancy test and blood exams leaves no doubts, I guess." She leaned her head on his hand. "You're not mad?" She was almost afraid to ask.

"Are you kidding me, Bones?" He let out a happy laugh. "This is the best news I've heard in a long time. A_ baby_!"

"Are you sure?" They were still standing very close together and both seemed to have forgotten they were in the middle of the street. "Because you said babies were great and Angela and Hodgins were happy because they loved each other and we… We had a night together, Booth, and things have been good with us, but it's not like things changed_ that_ much between us…"

"Bones…"

"Just a few months ago you were about to marry someone else." She felt a stung in her heart with the remembrance. "I just want you to know that you'll have full access to this child, if that's what you want, no matter what happens between us. I don't want you to feel you have any obligation with me just because I'm having your baby."

His face went serious and he made sure she was looking into his eyes when he spoke again.

"Bones, listen me up." Now both his hands were cupping her face. "About one year ago, I opened my heart to you. I told you that I knew from the moment I land my eyes on you that we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together. I loved you for so, so long, but you didn't want to take the risk of having a relationship with me. I was hurt, I was really hurt and you asked me if we could still work together. Seeing you every single day and knowing that you knew how I felt and I would never have a chance with you was painful. It was _very_ painful. But I accepted, because nothing would be more painful than not having you at my life at all."

She was crying, because she _did _regret that night and there's nothing she could change about that, but she didn't interrupt him.

"And then you left. I didn't know my heart could break twice in such a short period of time, but it did. When I arrived at Afghanistan, I realized that I couldn't spend my life being miserable like that anymore. I had to move on. You didn't call me, I didn't know a thing about you and it drove me crazy, but I guess in the end it helped me to get stronger. Hannah was nice and easy, I didn't have to worry when I was around her. Suddenly, life didn't seem that hard anymore. That was, until Caroline called us to come back home, I met you again and Hannah came back here to be with me. I wasn't easy to work with you every day and forget about us. It wasn't easy being with you and seeing everything I loved about you and at night go back home to be with Hannah. For a while, I felt like I was living a double life. And then one day you break down and tell me you made a mistake."

Brennan looked down as she remembered that rainy night.

"You have no idea how hard it was for me to not stop the car and just held you forever when I saw your tears, Bones. But I was with Hannah, she'd changed her life to be with me and you didn't even give me any hint that you have changed your mind about us."

He took a deep breath. He'd started it, now he would finish.

"After that, things pretty much went downhill. Being with you every day, feeling like I needed to prove myself and Hannah that we could work out, and then Sweets telling me he hoped not to end up like me… I just lost it and proposed."

He flinched.

"Hannah had told me countless times that she didn't want to get married and I knew that. I knew and I asked her anyway. I think part of me was hoping for a 'no'. But it hurt, nonetheless."

He shrugged.

"She asked me to forget that had ever happened and said we could continue to be just the way we were before. You know, pretty much what you said to me that night outside of the Hoover. When she asked me to forget, I thought 'how on earth she'd think we could still be together after what happened?' I didn't think twice about that. I pictured my life without her and instead of feeling sorrow, I felt relief. And that moment, I knew, I _knew_ I could never marry Hannah, because I would never love her the way I loved you. I never told her about my past or about my fears. She didn't know my favorite songs, or my favorite food. The thought of a life without her in it didn't seem unbearable or impossible. Because it's always been you, Bones."

"Booth…"

"I love _you_." He kissed her lightly on the lips. "I'll always love you. You're my partner, you're my best friend, you're the most incredible woman I've ever met and nothing would make me happier than raising a child_ with_ you."

And then he kissed her for real. And she kissed him back.

He wiped her tears and smiled. "Plus, you have to admit it, Bones, it has to be fate. Come on, we needed only one night of love to create a new life. Say whatever you want, but I call it fate."

He linked her arm in his and they started walking again.

"And a morning." She added finally with a smirk.

He smiled wider.

"Oh, yes. And quite a morning." He gave her a knowing look.

"I was right about our stamina."

"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure we made our baby in one of the rounds that morning."

"It's possible." She agreed.

And then suddenly he stopped.

"What?" She asked.

"We are having a baby." He said amazed. "Bones, we. are. having. a. baby."

"I know that, Booth. I told you I was pregnant about half an hour ago."

"Yeah, but it just… feels surreal."

"Well, it's quite real. It will be even more real once I start looking like a water buffalo, in Angela's words."

"Ah, come on, Bones, you'll look beautiful."

She couldn't help but smile at him. _Was that really happening?_

"We are really doing this, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are. Can you believe it?" He squeezed her arm. "Some months from now, we'll have our little girl here with us!"

"We don't know if it's a girl."

"Oh, it will be a girl, Bones."

"You can't know that. There's a 50/50 chance for each gender."

"Nope, I feel it. It will be a pretty little girl with your big blue eyes and my charming smile."

"You know, it's not as charming as you think it is." She pointed out teasingly.

"Come on, Bones, you can't resist my charming smile."

"Of course I can."

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't." He smiled his best Booth-is-completely-in-love-with-Bones-smile.

"Yes, I-" Then she looked up at him, looking so cheerful and handsome and adorable, and she couldn't do anything but kiss him. Because well, now she _could_.

"No, I can't."

.

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><p><strong>Stephen Nathan said S7 will start a couple of months after the finale and everyone will already know about Brennan's pregnancy. I don't know about you, but I'd just give everything to know everyone's reaction to the big news. Seriously… just imagine Sweets' face when he finds out. And Cam's. And, oh dear, <strong>_**CAROLINE'S!**_

**So, I was thinking about writing a series of one-shots with everyone's reaction. What do you think? Anyone would be interested?**

**Now, seriously, IS IT SEPTEMBER YET?**


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